There could be no denying the Avs made hockey relevant in Denver again this season. A team that finished 29th in the NHL a year ago won the brutally tough Central Division.

Patrick Roy should be a favorite to win the Jack Adams Award for coach of the year, and Nathan MacKinnon is a shoo-in for rookie of the year, with Semyon Varlamov a finalist for the Vezina.

Bottom line: Bright days are ahead. They'll just have to wait awhile to get even better.

The Avalanche's remarkable season came to a crushing end Wednesday night in Game 7 of its first-round playoff series. The Minnesota Wild won 5-4 in overtime as the Avs were unable to maintain four one-goal leads. Nino Niederreiter scored at 5:02 of overtime to send the Wild into the second round. The Avs had three golden chances to score in overtime.

"I don't have enough words to say how proud I am of our guys," Roy said after the game.

"I thought we had it there twice," forward Matt Duchene said. "It's heartbreaking."

Avs forward Ryan O'Reilly was equally devastated. "Home ice is great, a good thing to have. But who cares? You don't win a Cup. That's the only thing that matters. We had moments where we played like a Cup team but other times when we didn't look like we belonged at all."

It was the second time in two Game 7 meetings with the Wild in Denver that the Avs lost, the previous one coming in Roy's final game as a player in 2003.

"We couldn't hold the lead," said Jan Hejda, who played with two broken fingers in the series, including a thumb that had a pin in it. "We get the lead four times; we should have held on to it."

The Avs' last lead of the game, gained with 8:44 remaining in the third period on Erik Johnson's goal, failed to hold up as Wild defenseman Jared Spurgeon patiently waited for MacKinnon to overskate a sliding blocked-shot attempt and buried a shot to the far post with 2:27 left, sending the game to overtime.

Johnson's goal looked like it might finally be the one to hold up, as the building erupted with joy and the Avs played solid defense for the next few minutes. But unlike most of the regular season, Varlamov couldn't come up with the big saves when his team needed them most.

The Avs previously had a 3-2 third-period lead on Paul Stastny's goal, but that didn't last long as Niederreiter beat Varlamov with a wrist shot from the right circle just inside the left corner to tie the game in the third. When the puck went in, Roy buried his face in his hand for a couple of seconds, sensing perhaps that this was one blown single-goal lead too many for a Game 7.

Varlamov had a marvelous season but was shaky in both Games 6 and 7.

In the end, the Avalanche couldn't play with the puck for long enough. Game 7 mirrored too many in this series in that the Wild had more puck possession, more shots on goal and an overall greater margin for error because of it. The Avs skated on the right side of that fine line enough to get to overtime of Game 7, but it finally caught up with them.

The Avs never could separate themselves from the Wild in the series. In only one game of the series — the second — did they have more than a one-goal lead at any time.

"We've got to push ourselves over the summer to get better," Duchene said. "But we had a great season and have nothing to feel ashamed about. A lot of the old great Avs teams lost in the first round too. It happens. But there's something to be proud of here. We won the Central Division. But I don't think there's going to be one guy this summer who won't have motivation to get better."

In Game 7, every time the Avs took a lead, again and again, they seemed to let the Wild back in the game, going 22 minutes at one point between shots.

A turning point in this one came in the second period, when rookie Joey Hishon — who set up Colorado's second goal, by Jamie McGinn, for his first NHL point — accidentally high-sticked Zach Parise in the mouth at 5:25. The Avs killed off the Wild power play, but as Hishon was skating back onto the ice and into the Wild zone, veteran winger Dany Heatley jabbed home a loose puck and tied the game 2-2.

That seemed to hurt the Avs' spirit, and things sagged even more when they failed to capitalize on consecutive power plays later in the period. The Avs' power play was spotty throughout the series.

"It's a process. It's a learning process," Roy said. "At the end, unfortunately injuries were a factor. Losing a guy like (Tyson) Barrie and (John) Mitchell probably would have made the difference for us. But we don't want to use excuses like that. We got beat by a team that played well.

"One quality we had all year: We were never satisfied. Certainly not going to start tonight. It was a great experience all year. It was fun to be part of it. I didn't want to see it end. I just want to say thanks to them. They made it fun. It's hard to talk like this right now, because everyone knows how much I like to win, but it was a great year. Next year in the playoffs, I think guys will react a little more calm in those situations. The toughest part will be not coming back tomorrow, preparing for Chicago. I'm sure tomorrow's going to hurt more.

"As much as we dreamed about winning the Stanley Cup, we knew it would be tough. We aren't there yet. That hurts to say, but it's fact."

Three Stars

Nino Niederreiter

Scored the game-winner 5:02 into overtime. Still only 21 and considered a major disappointment in his days with the Islanders, the Wild winger had two goals and an assist.

P.A. Parenteau

Making his playoff debut at age 31, the Avalanche winger finished off his first series by assisting on goals by Paul Stastny and Erik Johnson in the third period.

Dany Heatley

Minnesota winger had a goal and two assists to finish a plus-three in the deciding game after being a healthy scratch early in the first-round series.

Roy, roy, roy

A daily sampling of Avalanche coach Patrick Roy during his team's playoff run:

On Wednesday, Roy was asked about how he might use his extensive Game 7 experience as a player in a pregame pep speech to his team.

"I had to check this morning, to realize I had 13 (Game 7s), but I didn't have too much success on the road (he was 0-3 on the road with the Avs). So I'm pretty happy that we have the game at home.

"It would be tough to sell it to my players if we would be on the road. You want to have Game 7 at home. We should be excited about it. This is part of the process of our team. This is great for our town too. Just walking the street, it's amazing to see the excitement that we have in this town."

Adrian Dater, The Denver Post

Minnesota Wild defenseman Jared Spurgeon (46) scores the 4 to 4 tie goal during the third period. The Colorado Avalanche hosted the Minnesota Wild in the seventh round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs at the Pepsi Center in Denver, Colorado on Wednesday, April 30, 2014. (John Leyba, The Denver Post)

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